they are going to get in these fractious squabbles over the debt ceiling but they are not going to deal with the essential problem in a meaningful way. >> i am reading robert carroll's book on lbj. jack kennedy, it looked like he was having the same problem with the congress. early on, lbj was having the same problem, that everything was being sidetracked. >> that is true. i would say this as far as what senator obama said in 2006, quoting mr. johnson. consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. there was a different attitude, and we have raise the debt ceiling 70-plus times, the congress has voted to do it, and there has always been that sense of we are not going to vote to raise the other guys debt ceiling, but there was always the understanding that we would provide the votes in the final analysis. the president's party did that. right now you have a situation where the republican party is reduced to its lowest standing in the history of the wall street journal nbc pulled to 23% favorable, 47% unfavorable. the only thing that is worse is john boehner. 18% favorable. this is not a fo